Summer Art Camps

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Painting Camp- July 2011-Day Four

Today we discussed the elements that make a great landscape composition and we studied arial prospective and the importance of values to create the illusion of distance. We then reviewed the works of Paul Klee and using one of his landscape drawings as our inspiration we created an exciting landscape using watercolors and acrylics.

Painting Camp- July 2011-Day Three

Today the student were introduced to Gustav Klimt's work and used his famous painting "Tree Of Life" as their inspiration. They drew, painted with tempera and used markers to create a beautiful masterpiece.

Painting Camp- July 2011-Day Two

On day two the students were introduced to the Aboriginal Culture and then the drew and painted an "Aboriginal Dreaming" painting depicting an Australian Animal. They learned several different techniques in applying paint to achieve an exciting work of art.

Painting Camp- July 2011 -Day One

In our first lesson we started by reviewing and creating a color wheel and then we learned about the great Russian artist Vassily Kandinsky, the father of the Abstract movement. We then created an abstract collage using tempera paint and card stock shapes. A great warm up for the following lessons.

About Me

I have been drawn to art in many forms from a very early age, fortunate to have grown up in an environment that was rich with artistic works from many genres, an experience that imbued me with an appreciation for a wide range of styles and movements. I was born and raised in Italy where my parents filled our Lake Como villa with fantastic classical and contemporary works by important artists ranging from Charles Le Brun, the Court painter to French King Louis XIV, to Lucio Fontana, perhaps the most important of the Italian modernists who developed the Concetto Spaziale in art and sculpture.

In 1986 I graduated from the prestigious Istituto per L’Arte e il Restauro in Florence, one of the worlds premier art restoration and conservation schools, where I majored in Conservation of Paintings and Art History. For the next decade, I was president of Restoration and Conservation Studio in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I worked with important collectors and Museums to restore and conserve an incredibly diverse collection of masterpieces.

My many years experience, surrounded by beautiful art and the combination of knowledge gained in the conservation field led me to open Boxwood Antiques and Fine Art in Old Town, Alexandria, in 1996. This gallery specialized in artists from the 18^th to 20^th centuries. I also collected and sold many other precious works, including fine 18^th Century English and American silver, Chinese, Japanese and English porcelain, and 18^th and 19^th Century American and English furniture. All of these items have helped me develop an appreciation for the many techniques that I bring to bear when creating lessons for children.

In 2001, to allow more time with my family, I closed the gallery and begun my journey as an artist.

After a few weekly workshops with important American plein air artists I realized that my true passion was painting and that same year I was lucky to be juried into the historic Washington Society of Landscape Painters (WSLP) and the Oil Painters of America (OPA).

My works have shown in several major national exhibitions, including those hosted by the OPA and American Women Artists (AWA). In 2002 I was invited to participate in I the exclusive Carmel Art Festival.

Now my most important focus is my family and children. I have three beautiful children, Liam 6, Sofia 5 and Tristan 4. This keeps me very busy and my time behind the easel is for now limited. In 2010 I decided that it would be wonderful to combine my passion for art and children, so I started teaching small groups of children drawing, painting and art history.

The result has been very rewarding, and the creativity of children never ceases to amaze me. I often find that I learn as much from their open minds and limitless vision as they learn from me!